Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy may regain his freedom just three weeks into serving his prison sentence, following reports that authorities were considering his early release on health and procedural grounds.
Sarkozy described his three weeks in jail as “gruelling” and “a nightmare”, as he asked a Paris court to free him pending an appeal.
On October 21, the former centre-right president, 70, was sentenced to five years for conspiring to fund his 2007 election campaign with money from late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
His lawyers immediately filed a request seeking his release.
A decision is expected around 13:30 local time (12:30 GMT) and if his request is successful, Sarkozy could be freed from La Santé prison as early as Monday evening.
Public prosecutor Damien Brunet has recommended that Sarkozy’s request be granted, but that the former president be banned from contacting other witnesses in the so-called “Libyan dossier”.
Sarkozy, who has always denied any wrongdoing, told the court via video link that he had never had the “mad idea” of asking Gaddafi for money and stated he would “never admit to something I haven’t done”.
Sarkozy also paid tribute to prison staff that had made his time in jail “bearable”. “They have shown exceptional humanity,” he said.
Sarkozy’s wife, the singer and model Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, and two of the former president’s sons were present in the courtroom to support him.
Sarkozy is the first French ex-leader placed behind bars since World War Two Nazi collaborationist leader Philippe Pétain was jailed for treason in 1945.
Since entering jail, Sarkozy has been held in a cell in the prison’s isolation wing. Two bodyguards have been stationed in nearby cells.
“The former president of the republic is entitled to protection because of his status,” interior minister Laurent Nuñez said in October, adding that there was “obviously a threat against him.”
Sarkozy was president from 2007-2012. Ever since he left office, he has been dogged by criminal inquiries and for months had to wear an electronic tag around his ankle after a conviction last December for trying to bribe a magistrate for confidential information about a separate case.
